"You will see, we will not be the only team not being in Jerez," he told BBC Sport. "I know this for a fact already.

"We already said a month ago that it is going to be tight. Actually most of the teams agreed it was going to be tight. Then it was a decision we took. It is true the car will not be ready on time, but we will be ready shortly after that - and in some ways, it is not bad because we will have time to watch what the others are doing and nobody will be able to watch what we are doing.

"Remember, this year it is a big regulation change, so everybody will be watching very carefully what the others have done."

Mercedes and Caterham will both reveal their cars on the first day of the Jerez test, while McLaren will hold an online launch four days before.